Volume 2: Chapter 31 (Faruq 08A202)

When coffee was over, Colonel Fitzwilliam reminded Elizabeth of having promised to play to him; and she sat down directly to the instrument. He drew a chair near her. Lady Catherine listened to half a song, and then talked, as before, to her other nephew; till the latter walked away from her, and moving with his usual deliberation towards the piano forte, stationed himself so as to command a full view of the fair performer's countenance. Elizabeth saw what he was doing, and at the first convenient pause, turned to him with an arch smile, and said,

``You mean to frighten me, Mr. Darcy, by coming in all this state to hear me? But I will not be alarmed though your sister does play so well. There is a stubbornness about me that never can bear to be frightened at the will of others. My courage always rises with every attempt to intimidate me.''

``I shall not say that you are mistaken,'' he replied, ``because you could not really believe me to entertain any design of alarming you; and I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance long enough to know, that you find great enjoyment in occasionally professing opinions which in fact are not your own.''

Elizabeth laughed heartily at this picture of herself, and said to Colonel Fitzwilliam, ``Your cousin will give you a very pretty notion of me, and teach you not to believe a word I say. I am particularly unlucky in meeting with a person so well able to expose my real character, in a part of the world where I had hoped to pass myself off with some degree of credit. Indeed, Mr. Darcy, it is very ungenerous in you to mention all that you knew to my disadvantage in Hertfordshire -- and, give me leave to say, very impolitic too -- for it is provoking me to retaliate, and such things may come out, as will shock your relations to hear.''

``I am not afraid of you,'' said he, smilingly.

``Pray let me hear what you have to accuse him of,'' cried Colonel Fitzwilliam. ``I should like to know how he behaves among strangers.''

``You shall hear then -- but prepare yourself for something very dreadful. The first time of my ever seeing him in Hertfordshire, you must know, was at a ball -- and at this ball, what do you think he did? He danced only four dances! I am sorry to pain you -- but so it was. He danced only four dances, though gentlemen were scarce; and, to my certain knowledge, more than one young lady was sitting down in want of a partner. Mr. Darcy, you cannot deny the fact.''

``I had not at that time the honour of knowing any lady in the assembly beyond my own party.''

``True; and nobody can ever be introduced in a ball room. Well, Colonel Fitzwilliam, what do I play next? My fingers wait your orders.''

``Perhaps,'' said Darcy, ``I should have judged better, had I sought an introduction, but I am ill qualified to recommend myself to strangers.''

``Shall we ask your cousin the reason of this?'' said Elizabeth, still addressing Colonel Fitzwilliam. ``Shall we ask him why a man of sense and education, and who has lived in the world, is ill qualified to recommend himself to strangers?''

``I can answer your question,'' said Fitzwilliam, ``without applying to him. It is because he will not give himself the trouble.''

``I certainly have not the talent which some people possess,'' said Darcy, ``of conversing easily with those I have never seen before. I cannot catch their tone of conversation, or appear interested in their concerns, as I often see done.''

``My fingers,'' said Elizabeth, ``do not move over this instrument in the masterly manner which I see so many women's do. They have not the same force or rapidity, and do not produce the same expression. But then I have always supposed it to be my own fault -- because I would not take the trouble of practising. It is not that I do not believe my fingers as capable as any other woman's of superior execution.''

Darcy smiled, and said, ``You are perfectly right. You have employed your time much better. No one admitted to the privilege of hearing you, can think any thing wanting. We neither of us perform to strangers.''


In this passage, it describes a conversation between Elizabeth, Darcy and his cousin, Colonel Fitzwilliam. Their conversation is set in Lady Catherine's drawing room at the parsonage during an invitation by Fitzwilliam. In their conversation, Elizabeth is playing the piano and finds Darcy coming near her. Darcy is trying to leave a good impression of himself in Elizabeth's mind. The theme that is reflected strongly in this passage is pride pertaining especially to Elizabeth.

Although Elizabeth is slightly delighted at Darcy's attention to her, she still holds a high degree of pride and does not show him what she truly feels when she says that Darcy seems to be frightening her. In fact, she well understands that he wants to get to know her better but she feels that she could not let her guard down as she had always thought of him as a rude person. Thus, it tells a lot about her pride as Elizabeth does not betray her own judgement.

However, from here, Darcy seems to be the only one who can understand Elizabeth. Elizabeth tries to defend her pride but he caught her by surprise when he says, "I have had the pleasure of your acquaintance long enough to know, that you find great enjoyment in occasionally professing opinions which in fact are not your own." This tells us that Darcy understands Elizabeth well and can know what is inside her heart. He knows that Elizabeth is actually putting up a front and acts like she disapproves of Darcy coming near her but in actual fact, she does not mind his presence and actually enjoys it as later on, they both engage in witty exchange.

Darcy's reaction to Elizabeth also forces her to bring down her pride and talk to him. However, she does this indirectly and talks to Fitzwilliam instead. This can be seen when she says, "I am particularly unlucky in meeting with a person so well able to expose my real character, in a part of the world where I had hoped to pass myself off with some degree of credit." This tells us that she acknowledges the fact that Darcy could see through her but she still does not let down her pride yet when she says that he is provoking her to retaliate. Maybe inside her heart she wants to talk to him too but based on her previous judgements about him, she needs to uphold her dislike for him and thus, justifies it by using their first meeting at the ball where Darcy appeared unfriendly. She acts as if she is complaining to Fitzwilliam about her cousin but she is directing it at Darcy. Perhaps, subconsciously, Elizabeth is giving Darcy a chance to explain his hostility as later on, Darcy says that he is ill qualified to recommend himself to strangers.

Darcy's justification of his actions shows us that the two are meant for each other. Elizabeth acknowledges him by using her experience in playing the piano. She says that she does not take the trouble of catching up to other women's superiority in playing the piano. This itself is a representation of Darcy's weakness in speaking to strangers. Darcy later on concludes that, "we neither of us, performs to strangers." Here, he is hinting to her that they both think the same way and should be with each other. Both of them are intelligent and can counter each other in a conversation. They are also very witty and can understand each other. Even as Elizabeth tries very hard to uphold her pride, Darcy is able to uncover her feelings.

In their course of exchange, Fitzwilliam acts as an avenue for them to express their opinions of each other, particularly Darcy's impression of Elizabeth. His presence facilitates their conversation as we know, Elizabeth had a bad impression of Darcy before this and thinks of him as ungentlemanly and rude. Fitzwilliam makes the situation between them less awkward. Both of them use him to get back at each other.

This passage seems to be a prelude to their love story as we know that Elizabeth eventually changes her perception of Darcy and marries him. She also managed to put away her pride and realised that she was wrong about Darcy. This passage perfectly describes how pride prevents Elizabeth from expressing her true thoughts and how much she upholds her judgements.